It seems that not a day goes past without a new revelation of wrongdoing or bad practice in the process of signing contracts with the private sector, this includes sub-standard products, products not delivered, huge contracts with small companies that have never worked in the area before, and contracts given to companies with political links.
The Good Law Project has published numerous examples of poorly negotiated contracts and ones given to companies with links to government, MPs or the Conservative party, findings which are now backed up by the recently released report by the National Audit Office.
The NHS signing contracts with the private sector for products and services has been ongoing for many years, but when the Covid-19 pandemic hit things changed. Emergency legislation was enacted in March 2020, which allows for contracts to be signed without going through a competitive tender procedure and it seems that as a result the contracts were also signed without proper scrutiny of the companies, the products or the contract details.
Full story in The Lowdown, 23 November 2020
